Folding floor for railway-cars



B. F. REX. l FOLDLNG FLOOR FOR RAILWAY CARS.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 8,1919.

l 35 1 1 25 Patented Aug. 31, 1920.

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FOLDING FLOOR FOR RAILWAY-CARS.

Application filed December 8, 1919.

To all whom t may conce/m.'

Be it known that l, ROBERT F. REX, a citizen of the United States, residing at Andover, in the county of Ashtabula and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Folding Floors for Railway-Cars, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improvement in railroad cars, and more particularly to refrigerator cars.

In handling perishable goods, such as milk, cream, vegetables, and the like, the capacity of the car is seldom reached, because of the difiiculty in loading the car so that the entire tonnage capacity of the car may be utilized, as in loading a car of milk or cream in can containers the capacity of the car is restricted to the floor space only.

In articles such as melons, etc., the eX- treme frailty of the melons will not allow of many piled upon each other.

In order to overcome this difliculty, my invention has for its principal object the providing of a second floor for the car which is situated at a convenient distance from the bottom or regular floor of the car.

Another object is to provide a folding Hoor that may be folded up in sections against the sides of the car walls when not in use, or when the first floor is being loaded.

A. still further object of the invention is to provide supporting legs, and means for holding the folding iioor in proper position when lowered in position for loading.

With these objects in view, the invention consists in certain novel features of construction, and combinations, and arrangements of parts, as hereinafter set forth, and pointed out in the claim.

ln the accompanying drawings, Flgure l is a top view plan of the folding floor.

Fig. 2 is a sectional end view of a car showing the manner in which the folding ioor is supported and folded up when not in use. Fig. 3 is a detailed view showing the sup- Y porting leg and the T-iron used in supporting the opposite portion of the folding Hoor, which is not provided with a support- Specication of Letters Patent..

Call

. the sections 8.

Patented Aug. 31, 1920.

Serial No. 343,269.

ing leg. Fig. at is a detailed sectional View showing the manner in which the folding floor may be retained in a folded position. Fig. 5 is a detailed view showing the latching means for the folding floor.

By referring to Fig. l, it will be seen that l represents the side walls and ends of a The second floor of the car is formed in' sections; sections 2 having supporting means to support the inner ends 3 of the sections 2. This ,supporting is accomplished by the use of a folding leg 4i.

By referring to Fig. 2 it will be seen that this folding leg 4 is secured to the sections 2, near the. inner ends 3. The pivot portion of the folding leg el: is secured within a housing 5 by means of a bolt 6. Then the folding leg 4 is in the proper position for supporting the floor sections, above referred to, the weight of the `floors will cause the weight to be carried at point 7 of the folding leg 4, thereby holding the leg from taking any other position than a perpendicular one. The wall ends of sections 2 and 8 are secured to the side walls by hinges 15. The angle iron 16 is secured to the side walls and forms a support for said ends.

It will be seen by referring to Fig. 2 that the sections 8 of the folding floor are 0pposite the sections 2. lVhen the sections 8 are lowered, they are held in position at the inner ends 9 by means of an inverted T-iron l0 attached to the sections 2. The flange ll of the inverted T-iron provides a seat upon which rests the inner ends 9 of y lf desired, the sides may be provided with a like securing means.

By referring to Fig. 4L, 12 are staples secured to the car wall l by any suitable means; when the sections are folded up, these staples l2 extend through openings 13 in the sections 2 and 8.

By referring to Fig. 5, it will be seen that l have provided a hook 14 to pass within each staple l2, thereby securely holding the sections 2 and 8 in an upright position against the walls l.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to Secure hy Letters Iating legs attached to the inner edges of said ent is: sections, each leg attached to an offset pivot 10 In a device of the class described, having portion.

in combination With a railway car, a'second In testimony whereof I ax my signature.

floor formed in sections, the outer edge of ROBERT F. REX.

each section hinged to the sides of said car, Wit-iiesses:

an L-iron secured to the sides of the car FRANK P. JACKSON,

directly underneath the hinged edges, 4old- C. A. HARPMAN; 

